Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Mosul Campaign Day 184, Apr 18, 2017

Iraqi Federal Police firing a mortar in Old City, west Mosul
(USA Today)

The Golden Division maintained its push into central west
Mosul. Its forces were still fighting
in the Thawra and Tanak neighborhoods. General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi claimed that once those two were
taken the Old City district would be mostly surrounded. In actuality the
division would just be pushing along its perimeter more. That’s what the Golden
Division has been doing for the last month. Taking the district remains the job
of the police who are only making halting progress.

The BBC and USA
Today followed soldiers and police fighting along the frontlines in Mosul.
The BBC were with soldiers in central west Mosul. The unit spent the whole day
in intense fighting and only advanced a few blocks by the end. USA Today
reported on a Federal Police sniper operating in the Old City. These
sharpshooters are not only used to pick off individual IS fighters, but provide
intelligence to their units and call in targets for artillery and airstrikes
from their high points, which give them an overview of the battlefield. Both
stories gave a sense of the type of fighting that is going on inside the city.
Much of the combat is street to street, house to house, even room to room.
Specialists like snipers and heavy weapons like planes, helicopters, mortars
and artillery are all at play as well. As military officials have pointed out,
this is the most intense combat of the war so far.

Iraqi propaganda was at work as well. General Talib Shaghati
of the Golden Division noted
that the Islamic State only controlled 6 out of 38 districts in west Mosul.
What he didn’t mention was that was still roughly 40% of the western section of
the city. General Saadi claimed that IS morale had collapsed. That type of
statement has been made since the start of the campaign. According to the Iraqi
forces most of the insurgents have fled, and they have no will to fight. That
belies the fact that the fighting is now in its six month and the Iraqi forces are
still stuck in the Old City.

Civilians are suffering the brunt of the casualties. 30 were
killed by a Coalition air strike. Another 8 died and 12 were wounded by a
suicide car
bomb. Both sides in the battle have caused a huge number of dead and
injured. The continued calls by the Iraqi government for people to stay inside
the city, the increased deployment of artillery and air strikes, and the
Islamic State’s use of human shields and targeting of people attempting to flee
and liberated areas have all contributed to this situation.

The United Nations was still warning of a disaster brewing
inside Mosul. The U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande told the
press a “humanitarian catastrophe” could happen. Tens of thousands have already
been displaced, and there is growing malnutrition in IS controlled areas due to
sever shortages. It would seem that the calamity the U.N. was afraid of had
already arrived, but they are worried that things could turn out much worse.

The Islamic State admitted
that it used chemical weapons. The group claimed chlorine gas was employed in
attacks in Mosul, and said it would do so again in both Iraq and Syria. IS has
been using that chemical for years, and is relatively easy to produce and use
compared to other more sophisticated and deadly agents. Over the weekend there
were two mortar attacks that allegedly involved chlorine. There have been many
more such stories as well over the past few months.

The frustration of the Hashd is seen in their recent
statements. A Hashd leader said that if the
forces were used to take west Mosul the battle would have ended in record time.
He blamed international and internal forces for pressing Baghdad to keep the Hashd
out. He went on to claim that the Hashd had special skills in street fighting.
Asaib Ahl Al-Haq on the other hand, continued
with its theme that the United States is delivering supplies to IS in the Tal
Afar district, and accused Washington of trying to extend the fighting. While
some Hashd were involved at the very end of Fallujah, the last time they were
committed to a major urban battle was Tikrit back in 2015. They suffered such
heavy losses in that campaign they had to halt operations. Also while there was
plenty of pressure from the U.S. and Sunni parties to keep the Hashd out of
Mosul, Prime Minister Abadi had his own reasons as well. He was afraid the
Hashd might alienate the city’s population who voiced concerns beforehand. He
also wanted the government forces to gain prestige from taking the Islamic
State’s capital in Iraq, and for Baghdad to be seen as the residents’
liberators. The Hashd have not only been kept out of the city, but are not
being allowed to take Tal Afar to the west of Mosul either. The fate of that
city will be decided after Mosul falls. That has angered many Hashd elements.
Finally, Asaib Ahl Al-Haq regularly accuses the American led Coalition of
supporting the insurgency to undermine its role in the country. This is due to
its alliance with Iran.

Heavy rains and flooding have caused problems for those
attempting to flee Mosul. The army took
down two pontoon bridges put up across the Tigris River south of the city
on 4/14/17 because they were no longer safe due to the rising water levels.
This forced the displaced (IDPs) to look for boats to get across the river, and
cut off Hamam al-Alil the main checkpoint for people coming out of the city
from receiving supplies from Kurdistan. The number of IDPs dropped
from around 7,700 per day last week to around 4,500. A new bridge was just
constructed to resolve these dilemmas. A U.N. official was quoted that things
had returned to normal.

The International Organization for Migration counted
331,140 displaced in Ninewa since the start of the fighting there in October
2016. There are many more that never registered or are staying inside the city.
287,838 IDPs were in camps. In the last month people have been looking for
alternatives to staying there. Some have set up tents or are squatting in Hamam
al-Alil. Many are now going to east Mosul to stay inside the city. Others have
started going to Baghdad. Some want to be close to Mosul to return as soon as
possible. Many do not want to be in the camps where movement is severely
restricted. Another factor is that all of the camps are either overflowing or
just at capacity. Many more people have come out of west Mosul compared to the
east due to the heavy fighting and the growing malnutrition.

IRAQ HISTORY TIMELINE

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About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com